Anderson feeling like a rookie again with Patriots

Saturday

Jun 14, 2014 at 10:20 PMJun 14, 2014 at 10:24 PM

By Glen FarleyGateHouse News Service

FOXBORO — James Anderson feels like a kid again."(My head's) not necessarily spinning," the 30-year-old Patriots linebacker said following Thursday's organized team activity on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium, "but I do feel like a rookie almost."It's a totally different defense than I've ever played. So just learning the techniques and how they want things done, I've got to spend more time in the playbook."After spending the first seven seasons of his NFL career with the Carolina Panthers and last year with the Chicago Bears, Anderson accepted that expanded workload when he signed with the Patriots earlier this month.While it remains to be seen if the feeling is mutual, to this point Anderson says the Patriots have played to rave reviews."I think it's been great," Anderson said of the transition. "You can obviously see why these guys have won so much, the work they put in, the attention. Just how they work overall you can definitely see why they won so much."In building a reputation as a strong coverage linebacker (at 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, he doesn't bring physicality to the position), Anderson has played — and produced — a lot over his eight seasons as a pro; his resume consists of 110 games (69 starts) with 556 tackles, 12 sacks, eight fumble recoveries and three interceptions and including a franchise-record 145 tackles for Carolina in 2011 and 102 tackles and a career-high four sacks with Chicago just last year.Still, Anderson feels there are some voids on his resume."There's a couple of things that you could say are missing," said Anderson, who broke into the league as a third-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech in 2006. "There's a couple of championships and maybe a couple Pro Bowls. You know, the goals that everybody aspires to have."Goals that may have gone unfulfilled had the Patriots not come calling while Anderson was practicing the Scout approach ("be prepared"), staying in shape by training in Los Angeles.After all, this year's free agency period was more than two months old when the Patriots called him in for a workout and nearly three months old when the two parties struck a deal."I think you become anxious because you see free agency happen, you see guys getting signed and you're like, all right," said Anderson."After a little while like I'm like used to obviously working with a team, but I knew sooner or later either I was going to be playing or I wasn't."While the role Anderson will play with the Patriots remains to be seen, at the very least he'll bring depth to a position sorely lacking in it behind projected starters Jerod Mayo, Dont'a Hightower and Jamie Collins."He's tremendous as far as experience," defensive end Rob Ninkovich said. "He's had a lot of experience in the league, a lot of starts. Just having a guy that's been out there, done it for a long time, is going to help your team."Anderson's approach to the new job?Just point him in the right direction."I see myself fitting in kind of where they tell me to go," he said."Everything is still new. I'm still learning the defense, still kind of learning the guys around me, trying to work in as much as I can and when the season comes, wherever they tell me that's where you are, I'll do that with everything I have."Glen Farley may be reached at gfarley@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @GFarley_ent.